Products made in Brunei including processed food, handicraft and cultural ware are showcased at the Local Agri-food and Handicraft Market located at the Horticulture Business Centre in Rimba, Gadong.

Visitors to the Market have the chance to take a closer look at Brunei’s own food products and handicraft, as well as artworks, which are also offered for sale.

30 local entrepreneurs are promoting their products and services at the Market, the items ranging from frozen and chilled foodstuff to processed agri-food. Read more »

Unity Volunteer Fire Department’s annual fish fry and craft/vendor show will be Good Friday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Sale spaces are still available for $25 for an 8-foot table. For more information, call 412-795-8507.

Fish, shrimp, pizza, ala carte items and fresh cut fries will be available for eat-in, takeout or delivery. Call 412-793-4411 for deliveries or take out beginning at 10 a.m.

Cost is $6 for a fish or shrimp dinner, with fries and coleslaw.

Home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (Nasdaq:BBBY - news) on Wednesday reported a 9 percent rise in quarterly earnings, beating expectations, as more promotions brought in strong holiday sales.

The company also gave a full-year forecast that exceeded analysts’ estimates and its stock rose more than 5 percent in after-hours trading.

Net income for the fourth quarter ended February 25 rose to $197.9 million, or 67 cents per share, from $181 million, or 59 cents per share, a year ago. Read more »

Twenty-four artists have created furniture that is fantastical, outlandish, whimsical and original, and given it to KDUR to sell.

This is the fifth year the station has run its Furniture as Art Auction; Station Manager Nancy Stoffer said Monday that KDUR made just more than $12,000 last year.

The event also gives valuable exposure for the artists. See most of their work online at www.kdur.org. or on display around town. The Web site tells where to see most of the work before the auction. Read more »

Hooker Furniture Corporation reported first quarter net sales of $85.3 million for the period ended February 28, 2006, a $4.8 million or 6.0% increase compared to net sales of $80.5 million in the 2005 first quarter. Net income for the quarter of $3.6 million or $0.30 per share exceeded 2005 first quarter net income of $2.9 million or $0.25 per share.

After posting 13 consecutive quarters of sales increases over prior year periods, Hooker reported sales decreases in the low single digits for the last three quarters of 2005, compared with the same 2004 periods. Read more »

With paintbrushes poised and canvases primed, artists have still got time to enter the 52nd Hunters Hill Art and Craft Exhibition from now until Friday April 28.

The much-anticipated annual exhibition draws entries from the local area and surrounding suburbs.

Prize money of $7,000 is up for grabs. Read more »

Angry at what they call a “deluge of “shoddy, counterfeit and low-priced” Chinese furniture into Taiwan, furniture makers in the Kaohsiung area will launch a series of protests and form their own “trust” against what they claim to be dumping by China.

The 3rd National Furniture Fair kicked off in the city Tuesday by inviting people to decorate their homes with locally produced furniture.

Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury formally inaugurated the 5-day fair at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Center (BCFCC).

Bangladesh Furniture Industry Owners’ Association (BFIOA) and the Design and Technology Center jointly organised the fair, where furniture manufacturers set up 37 stalls showcasing their products. Read more »

New orders for residential furniture were up by 6 percent in January over the same month last year and up 9 percent from December, according to a survey by accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman.

According to BDO’s monthly forecaster the increased order activity this year was “better than normal.” This year, 58 percent of surveyed companies reported increased orders year-over-year, compared to 35 percent the month before. Read more »

THE Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB) is rebranding furniture-making as a respectable career to pursue.

As an agency set up under the purview of the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry, MTIB is the country’s regulatory and training body for the timber sector.

Chin and Nazuri were speaking to reporters after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the collaboration between MTIB and Limkokwing University College of Creative Technology (LUCT) in Cyberjaya yesterday. Read more »